Pangolin rescued from quarantine centre in Odisha, to undergo coronavirus test

BHUBANESWAR: In a first, Wildlife Wing officials of Odisha have decided to conduct a COVID-19 test on a female pangolin which was rescued from a quarantine facility in Cuttack district on Monday night.

The five-year-old was rescued by a team of Athagarh Forest division from the quarantine facility at Mahulia UGME school in the Baramba range. How the scaly ant-eater ended up at the quarantine facility is yet to be ascertained.

Divisional Forest Officer Sasmita Lenka said, acting on the information from the local sarpanch, her team reached the quarantine centre and rescued the pangolin.

"Since the pangolin was rescued from the facility where 42 persons have been quarantined, we have decided to send its swab for a coronavirus test before it is released into the wild," Lenka said. The Centre for Wildlife Health (CWH) at OUAT in Bhubaneswar will facilitate the process.

Officials at OUAT said since CWH doesn't have facility or permission from the government for a COVID-19 test, the sample, once collected from the pangolin, will be sent to a laboratory where the test is being conducted at present.

"The test can be conducted at any of the labs where human swabs are sent as the procedure is the same," said Professor and Head of Department of Preventive Medicine at OUAT Dr Niranjan Sahoo.

The DFO, meanwhile, said an investigation into how the pangolin landed in the quarantine facility is in progress.

Lenka also informed that three more persons have been arrested in connection with trafficking of a pangolin from Rairakhol to Cuttack five days back. One was arrested from Angul, while the other two have been apprehended in Rairakhol. Five persons arrested in connection with the racket are said to have links with Andhra Pradesh.